1630 Crete earthquake

The 1630 Crete earthquake reportedly occurred at around 09:00 on 9 March 1630 in the Kythira Strait, off the coast of Crete. Until the mid 1990s, the earthquake had traditionally been referred to as the 1629 Crete earthquake, which had been documented to have occurred at about 10:00 on Saturday 27 February 1629.[1] Extensive research by several experts on the subject since the late 1980s has revealed that a calculation error mis-dated the occurrence by several days and a year.

Contents

The exact epicentre of the earthquake is unknown,[2] although it has been cited to have been in the Kythira Strait.[3][4] The Venetians, who ruled Crete at the time, recorded it as a major earthquake, and it has been cited as one of three major earthquakes to have taken place in the Antikythiraseismic gap, the others occurring in 1750 and 1798.[5]

Greek seismological reports indicated that the earthquake occurred on 27 February 1629, resulting in extensive losses to property in much of Crete, and also causing a few deaths in Heraklion, where houses fell down, trapping people.[3][6] Churches experienced significant damage. In 1893, De Viazis unearthed a series of official documents of the Venetian Administration of Zakynthos revealing that three captains sailing independently in the strait at the time of the earthquake had reported their observations, which was in the form of tsunami waves travelling in the direction of south and southeast posing threats to their ships. Two reported the "remnants of wrecks and bodies of shipwrecked persons" and ships being affected by a tsunami. Another captain who had landed on the coast of Kythira stated that the people on the island had also experienced earthquake shocks at the same time as the captains had experienced it in the sea, and that it had resulted in some degree of flooding near the pier of the harbour.[3][6]

In 1988, K. G. Tsiknakis published in the Cretica Chronica two previously unpublished accounts of the earthquake.[6] In 1994, after conducting further research, Tsiknakis stated that he believed the previously-established year of the earthquake was wrong, and it was in fact 1630. In 1997 and 2003, Papazachos and Papazachou stated that they believed the date was 10 March 1630, which has since been moved back a day.[3] In 2010, Papadopoulos and others reported that tsunamis had been recorded when strong earthquakes struck the area between the Peloponnese and Crete, not only on 9 March 1630 but also on 6 February 1866, and 20 September 1867.[7]

1.
Crete
–
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, 88th-largest island in the world and the fifth-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete and a number of surrounding islands and islets constitute the region of Crete, the capital and the largest city is Heraklion. As of 2011, the region had a population of 623,065, Crete forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece, while retaining its own local cultural traits. It was once the centre of the Minoan civilization, which is regarded as the earliest recorded civilization in Europe. The island is first referred to as Kaptara in texts from the Syrian city of Mari dating from the 18th century BC, repeated later in Neo-Assyrian records and it was also known in ancient Egyptian as Keftiu, strongly suggesting a similar Minoan name for the island. The current name of Crete is thought to be first attested in Mycenaean Greek texts written in Linear B, through the words

2.
Republic of Venice
–
It was based in the lagoon communities of the historically prosperous city of Venice. It was a leading European economic and trading power during the Middle Ages, the Venetian city state was founded as a safe haven for people escaping persecution in mainland Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. In its early years, it prospered on the salt trade, in subsequent centuries, the city state established a thalassocracy. It dominated trade on the Mediterranean Sea, including commerce between Asia, Europe and North Africa, the Venetian navy was used in the Crusades. Venice achieved territorial conquests along the Adriatic Sea, the city became home to an extremely wealthy merchant class, who patronized renowned art and architecture along the citys lagoons. Venetian merchants were influential financiers in Europe, the city was also the birthplace of great European explorers, including Marco Polo, as well as the classical music composer Vivaldi. The republic was ruled by the Doge, who was elected by members of the Great Council of Venice, the ruling class was an oligarchy of merchants and aristocrats. Venice and other Italian maritime republics played a key role in fostering capitalism, Venetian citizens generally supported the system of governance. The city-state enforced strict laws and employed ruthless tactics in its prisons, the opening of new trade routes to the Americas and the East Indies via the Atlantic Ocean marked the beginning of Venices decline as a maritime republic. The city state suffered defeats from the navy of the Ottoman Empire, in 1797, the country was colonized by Austria and France, following an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte. Venice became a part of a unified Italy in the 19th century and it was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in reference to its title as one of the Most Serene Republics. He was the first historical Doge of Venice, whichever the case, the first doges had their power base in Heraclea. Ursuss successor, Deusdedit, moved his seat from Heraclea to Malamocco in the 740s and he was the son of Ursus and represented the attempt of his father to establish a dynasty. Such attempts were more commonplace among the doges of the first few centuries of Venetian history. They desired to remain well-connected to the Empire, another faction, republican in nature, believed in continuing along a course towards practical independence. The other main faction was pro-Frankish, supported mostly by clergy, they looked towards the new Carolingian king of the Franks, Pepin the Short, as the best provider of defence against the Lombards. A minor, pro-Lombard faction was opposed to close ties with any of these further-off powers, the successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By the Pax Nicephori, the two emperors had recognised that Venice belonged to the Byzantine sphere of influence, many centuries later, the Venetians claimed that the treaty had recognised Venetian de facto independence, but the truth of this claim is doubted by modern scholars

3.
Heraklion
–
Heraklion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete. It is the fourth largest city in Greece.3 km2, Heraklion is the capital of Heraklion regional unit. The Bronze Age palace of Knossos, also known as the Palace of Minos, is located nearby. The Arab raiders from Andalusia who founded the Emirate of Crete moved the capital from Gortyna to a new castle they called ربض الخندق rabḍ al-ḫandaq Castle of the Moat in the 820s. After the Byzantine reconquest, the city was known as Megalo Kastro or Castro. The ancient name Ηράκλειον was revived in the 19th century and comes from the nearby Roman port of Heracleum, english usage formerly preferred the classicizing transliterations Heraklion or Heraclion, but the form Iraklion is becoming more common. Heraklion is close to the ruins of the palace of Knossos, though there is no archaeological evidence of it, Knossos might well have had a port at the site of Heraklion as early as 2000 BC. They built a moat around the city for protection, and named the city ربض الخندق and it became the capital of the Emirate of Crete. The Saracens allowed the port to be used as a haven for pirates who operated against Imperial shipping. In 961, Byzantine forces under the command of Nikephoros Phokas, later to become Emperor, landed in Crete, after a prolonged siege, the city fell. The Saracen inhabitants were slaughtered, the city looted and burned to the ground, soon rebuilt, the town was renamed Χάνδαξ, Chandax, and remained under Greek control for the next 243 years. Chandax was renamed Candia and became the seat of the Duke of Candia, the city retained the name of Candia for centuries and the same name was often used to refer to the whole island of Crete as well. To secure their rule, Venetians began in 1212 to settle families from Venice on Crete, after the Venetians came the Ottoman Empire. During the Cretan War, the Ottomans besieged the city for 21 years, from 1648 to 1669, in its final phase, which lasted for 22 months,70,000 Turks,38,000 Cretans and slaves and 29,088 of the citys Christian defenders perished. The Ottoman army under an Albanian grand vizier, Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha conquered the city in 1669, under the Ottomans, the city was known officially as Kandiye but informally in Greek as Megalo Castro. During the Ottoman period, the harbour silted up, so most shipping shifted to Chania in the west of the island, in 1898, the autonomous Cretan State was created, under Ottoman suzerainty, with Prince George of Greece as its High Commissioner and under international supervision. During the period of occupation of the island by the Great Powers. At this time, the city was renamed Heraklion, after the Roman port of Heracleum, in 1913, with the rest of Crete, Heraklion was incorporated into the Kingdom of Greece

4.
Zakynthos
–
Zakynthos or Zante is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands, Zakynthos is a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and its only municipality. It covers an area of 405.55 km2 and its coastline is roughly 123 km in length, the name, like all similar names ending in -nthos, is pre-Mycenaean or Pelasgian in origin. In Greek mythology the island was said to be named after Zakynthos, Zakynthos is a tourist destination, with an international airport served by charter flights from northern Europe. The islands nickname is To fioro tou Levante, given by the Venetians, Zakynthos was inhabited from the Paelolithic and Neolithic Age, as some archaeological excavations have proved. The island was important during the Mycenaean period as it is mentioned three times on Linear B tablets from Pylos, there were also Zakynthian rowers present in the Mycenaean Messenian state. The Mycenaean presence is attested by the monumental Mycenaean built. Most important is the Mycenaean cemetery that was discovered during road construction in 1971 near the town of Kambi. The ancient Greek poet Homer mentioned the island in the Iliad, before being renamed Zakynthos, the island was said to have been called Hyrie. The island was conquered by King Arkesios of Kefalonia. According to some sources Saguntum in Spain was founded by the Zakynthians, some sources claim this occurred 200 years before the Trojan War. Zakynthos participated in the Trojan War and is listed in the Homeric Catalogue of Ships, in the Odyssey, Homer mentions 20 nobles from Zakynthos among a total of 108 of Penelopes suitors. In 430 BC, the Lacedaemonians made an attack upon Zakynthos. The Zakynthians are enumerated among the allies of Athens in the disastrous Sicilian expedition. These exiles must have belonged to the party as the Zakynthian rules applied for help to the Spartans who sent a fleet of 25 sail to the island. The importance of this alliance for Athens was that it provided them with a source of tar, tar is a more effective protector of ship planking than pitch. The Athenian trireme fleet needed protection from rot, decay and the teredo, the tar was dredged up from the bottom of a lake using leafy myrtle branches tied to the ends of poles. It was then collected in pots and could be carried to the beach, alternatively, the tar could be shipped to the Athenian naval yard at the Piraeus for storage

5.
Tsunami
–
A tsunami or tidal wave, also known as a seismic sea wave, is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Unlike normal ocean waves which are generated by wind, or tides which are generated by the pull of the Moon and Sun. Tsunami waves do not resemble normal undersea currents or sea waves, Tsunamis generally consist of a series of waves with periods ranging from minutes to hours, arriving in a so-called internal wave train. Wave heights of tens of metres can be generated by large events, numerous terms are used in the English language to describe waves created in a body of water by the displacement of water, however, none of the terms in frequent use are entirely accurate. The term tsunami, meaning harbour wave in literal translation, comes from the Japanese 津波, while not entirely accurate, as tsunami are not restricted to harbours, tsunami is currently the term most widely accepted by geologists and oceanographers. Tsunami are sometimes referred to as tidal waves and this once-popular term derives from the most common appearance of tsunami, which is that of an extraordinarily high tidal bore. Although the meanings of tidal include resembling or having the form or character of the tides, use of the tidal wave is discouraged by geologists. The term seismic sea wave also is used to refer to the phenomenon, prior to the rise of the use of the term tsunami in English-speaking countries, scientists generally encouraged the use of the term seismic sea wave rather than tidal wave. The Sumatran region is not unused to tsunamis either, with earthquakes of varying magnitudes regularly occurring off the coast of the island, Tsunamis are an often underestimated hazard in the Mediterranean Sea and parts of Europe. The tsunami claimed more than 123,000 lives in Sicily, the Storegga Slide in the Norwegian sea and some examples of tsunamis affecting the British Isles refer to landslide and meteotsunamis predominantly and less to earthquake-induced waves. The cause, in my opinion, of this phenomenon must be sought in the earthquake, at the point where its shock has been the most violent the sea is driven back, and suddenly recoiling with redoubled force, causes the inundation. Without an earthquake I do not see how such an accident could happen, the principal generation mechanism of a tsunami is the displacement of a substantial volume of water or perturbation of the sea. This displacement of water is attributed to either earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, glacier calvings or more rarely by meteorites. The waves formed in this way are then sustained by gravity, tides do not play any part in the generation of tsunamis. Tsunami can be generated when the sea floor abruptly deforms and vertically displaces the overlying water and they grow in height when they reach shallower water, in a wave shoaling process described below. A tsunami can occur in any state and even at low tide can still inundate coastal areas. On April 1,1946, the 8.6 Mw Aleutian Islands earthquake occurred with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI and it generated a tsunami which inundated Hilo on the island of Hawaii with a 14-metre high surge. Between 165 and 173 were killed, the area where the earthquake occurred is where the Pacific Ocean floor is subducting under Alaska

6.
Antikythera
–
Antikythera or Anticythera is a Greek island lying on the edge of the Aegean Sea, between Crete and Peloponnese. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality of Kythera island, Antikythera may also refer to the Antikythera Strait, through which modified Mediterranean water enters the Sea of Crete. Its land area is 20.43 square kilometres, and it lies 38 kilometres south-east of Kythira and it is the most distant part of the Attica region from its heart in the Athens metropolitan area. It is lozenge-shaped,10.5 km NNW to SSE by 3.4 km ENE to WSW and it is notable for being the location of the discovery of the Antikythera mechanism and for the historical Antikythera wreck. Its main settlement and port is Potamós, the only other settlements are Galanianá, and Charchalianá. Antikythera is sporadically visited by the LANE Lines ferry Vitsentzos Kornaros on its route between Piraeus and Kissamos-Kastelli on Crete, the earliest known inhabitants were likely seasonal hunters who traveled there to exploit the presence of migratory birds. The population of the island changed frequently as it was settled and abandoned several times. In antiquity, the island of Antikythera was known as Aigila or Ogylos, between the 4th and 1st centuries BC, it was used as a base by a group of Cilician pirates until their destruction by Pompey the Great. Their fort can still be seen atop a cliff to the northeast of the island, the archaeology of the island has been thoroughly surveyed and the data made openly available for further study. Antikythera is most famous for being the location of the 1900 discovery of the Antikythera wreck, from which the Antikythera Ephebe, the Antikythera mechanism is an ancient mechanical calculator designed to calculate astronomical positions which has been dated to about 205 BC. Technological artifacts of similar complexity did not appear until a thousand years later, Antikythera is a very important stop-over site for migratory birds during their seasonal movements, due to its geographical position and certain features. Furthermore, the hosts the largest breeding colony of Eleonoras falcon in the world. The importance of Antikythira for studying bird migration led to the creation of Antikythera Bird Observatory by the Hellenic Ornithological Society, the island also has a large population of wild goats

7.
Kythira Strait
–
Kythira Strait is a waterway off Kythira in southern Greece. The Kythira–Antikythira Strait is situated within the Western Hellenic arc and it measures approximately 100 kilometres in length and is situated between the Peloponnese and the island of Crete. Many ships have sunk in the area, including HMS Greyhound, HMS Gloucester, the Kythira Strait represents one of the most dangerous navigational hazards in the Mediterranean. The strait between Kythera and Cape Maleas was found dangerous in ancient days by the Greek mariners, most sea-traffic from Athens, Istanbul, and the Black Sea to the central and western Mediterranean passes through the strait and are often subject to strong winds and shipwreck on Cape Maleas. According to Papadopoulos and Kijko, the Western Hellenic arc has high seismic activity, here the seismic slip recorded is on the order of 0.3 cm/year. Also reported in the strait are earthquakes at shallow and intermediate depths, the Kythira Straits Tsunami Warning System comprises two interrelated elements. One is based on the observations and the other is related to tide-gauge recordings. The Ionian Islands, Corfu, Cephalonia, Ithaka and Beyond, Tsunami Research at the End of a Critical Decade. Individual Studies by Participants to the International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering, International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering. It is considered to be a dextral wrench zone, neogene and Quaternary vertical tectonics in the south Hellenic arc and their effect on concurrent sedimentation processes. Soloviev, Sergey L. Solovieva, Olga N. Chan N. Go, Khen S. Kim, tsunamis in the Mediterranean Sea 2000 B. C. -2000 A. D. Springer Science & Business Media

8.
Seismic gap
–
A seismic gap is a segment of an active fault known to produce significant earthquakes that has not slipped in an unusually long time, compared with other segments along the same structure. There is a hypothesis or theory that states that long periods of time. Any large and longstanding gap is, therefore, considered to be the fault segment most likely to suffer future earthquakes, the applicability of this approach has been criticised by some seismologists although earthquakes sometimes have occurred in previously-identified seismic gaps. Prior to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, that segment of the San Andreas fault system recorded much less activity than other parts of the fault. The main shock and aftershocks of the 1989 event occurred within the previous seismic gap. This zone,500 km in length, at that time had experienced no major earthquake since 1780, the Mw =8.3 earthquake of 15 November 2006 and the Mw =8.2 earthquake of 13 January 2007 occurred within the defined gap

9.
Cretica Chronica
–
The journal was established in 1947, and is published in Heraklion, Greece. The current editor-in-chief is Alexis Kalokerinos, articles are published in English, French, German, Greek, or Italian. Andreas G. Kalokerinos served as Chronicas editor-in-chief from its inception until 1973, two further volumes were published in 1986 and 1987 by Crete University Press, and two more in 1988–1990 by the Vikelaia Municipal Library of Heraklion, along with a volume of indices in 1994. The journal was revived in 2011, publishing one issue per year, official website in English Digitized versions of the first 14 volumes, 1947–1960

10.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker

Giovan Battista Tiepolo's Neptune offers the wealth of the sea to Venice, 1748–50, an allegory of the power of the Republic of Venice, as the wealth and power of the Serenissima was based on the control of the sea

A seismic gap is a segment of an active fault known to produce significant earthquakes that has not slipped in an …

Cross sections along the San Andreas fault showing recorded seismic activity A) 20 years before the Loma Prieta event, B) The main shock (large circle) and aftershocks for the Loma Prieta event, USGS Circular 1045